Hong Kong Insurer Expands Into Digital Assets

Intella X and CARV Team Up to Revolutionize Web3 GamingIntella X, the Web3 blockchain gaming platform developed by South Korean gaming company Neowiz, has entered into a partnership with CARV, a company that is currently building gaming credential infrastructure. Together, they intend to lead the era of innovative and cutting-edge Web3 gaming by improving the gaming experience, such as boosting player engagement and fostering an active gaming community.Photo by Mateov on UnsplashElevating the gaming experienceCARV’s platform provides a multifaceted experience for gamers, allowing them to explore a diverse range of games, collect rewards, and interact with fellow gamers around the world. In particular, they can also create a profile where they can organize all of their gaming achievements into verified and evolving credentials. On the other hand, Intella X offers service protocols like Proof of Contribution to cater to game developers and users in its ecosystem.Expanding horizonsUnder the partnership, CARV will onboard a selection of Intella X games to its CARV Play platform, the first of which will be the mobile Play-to-Earn (P2E) game Crypto Golf Impact and the MMORPG EOS Gold. The company will also support Intella X in order for it to expand its global presence and gain a larger user base, which entails leveraging CARV’s data analysis technology to create effective marketing and in-game quest campaigns to optimize user acquisition.“CARV is excited to partner up with Intella X in an effort to help their games scale by providing targeted user acquisition through player credentials as well as providing user insights that allow Intella X games to truly understand their communities. The Intella X team is filled with industry veterans who know how to disrupt an industry. CARV couldn’t be happier to align with such a strong brand in the space,” said Paul Delio, Head of Business Development at CARV.

Leading global crypto exchange platform OKX has officially launched OKX TR, a specialized crypto exchange tailored to meet the needs of users in Turkey. This unveiling, announced on Feb. 27, marks a significant stride in the company’s efforts to offer Turkish users greater access to cryptocurrency trading and decentralized finance (DeFi).Photo by Engin Yapici on UnsplashOKX Wallet integrationOKX TR has integrated OKX's Web3 wallet, providing Turkish users with access to a wide array of features. The wallet offers a user-friendly portal for trading non-fungible tokens (NFTs), utilizing decentralized applications (dApps). Noteworthy features of the OKX Wallet include multi-party computation (MPC) technology and account abstraction (AA), enhancing accessibility for users with varying levels of technical expertise.OKX TR introduces localized features designed to cater specifically to Turkish users, including direct deposits and withdrawals in Turkish Lira, facilitated through strategic partnerships with banking institutions such as Fibabanka, VakıfBank, Ziraat Bankası, İş Bankası, Şekerbank and Türkiye Finans. The platform offers a range of major cryptocurrency pairs for trading, including USDT/TRY, BTC/TRY and ETH/TRY.  Moreover, OKX TR prioritizes user experience by providing round-the-clock customer support in both Turkish and English, attempting to provide prompt assistance and comprehensive guidance whenever needed. Crypto adoption backdropThe platform’s arrival should contribute further towards the burgeoning crypto ecosystem in Turkey, a market boasting a close to 50% adoption rate for cryptocurrencies. A report by OKX rival platform KuCoin back in August of last year found that there had been a significant increase in crypto users in Turkey over the course of the previous 18 months.  It’s believed that crypto adoption in Turkey is being driven partly by its role as a financial lifeline amid economic challenges. The country’s sovereign currency, the lira, has suffered from runaway inflation in recent years. On social media OKX Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Haider Rafique wrote that the new service offers “lightning fast signup and funding,” alongside the “lowest fees in the market.” Mehmet Çamır, Chairman of OKX TR, outlined that the company had first announced expansion into Turkey in May 2023. Çamır set out the company’s intentions within the Turkish market, stating:"The launch of OKX TR represents more than just an expansion; it signifies our pledge to equip users with a transparent, compliant and user-friendly gateway to the world of blockchain. . . . We can unlock the vast potential of the Turkish crypto community and pave the way towards a future where finance is more inclusive and transparent.” Turkey is in the process of introducing a raft of crypto regulations, primarily with the intention of enabling it to be removed from the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) “grey list.” In December, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan appointed blockchain and cryptocurrency expert Fatma Ozkul to the Turkish central bank’s rate-setting committee.Those moves demonstrate some positive progress from the point of Erdogan’s statement in 2021 when he declared “a war on crypto.” 

Mars Program Sees Huobi Venture into SpaceHuobi, the Seychelles-headquartered global crypto exchange platform, has embarked on an extraordinary journey with the launch of Phase I of the Huobi Mars Program, making it the first cryptocurrency exchange to explore the vastness of space.Photo by Ju Guan on UnsplashIntergalactic interestsThe Huobi Mars Program, outlined by the company in a recent blog article, signifies Huobi’s interest in space exploration and an expansion beyond the confines of Earth. With aspirations to venture far into the universe, Huobi is inviting its users to join them on this unique and unprecedented journey, becoming pioneers in the Web3 field to enter space.The first phase of the Huobi Mars Program, scheduled from June 2023 to June 2024, consists of 12 rounds of themed activities. Each round requires participating users to complete specific tasks and mint space-themed non-fungible tokens (NFTs).Throughout each round, one lucky user will be selected as the monthly reward winner and stand a chance to become a potential candidate for space travel. In the subsequent phase, the 12 candidates will undergo a rigorous evaluation process, including assessments of physical fitness, training, preparation, and community contribution. Ultimately, one candidate will be chosen to embark on a space journey alongside Justin Sun, a member of the Huobi Advisory Board. The space flight is anticipated to take place after July 2024.Mars Program commencedThe first round of the Huobi Mars Program opened for participation from June 14 to July 5, 2023. To earn space NFT rewards, users must complete specific tasks in spot trading, peer-to-peer (P2P) transactions, futures trading, and Huobi Earn transactions. Each completed task grants users the opportunity to mint a space NFT, with no upper limits.Space NFTs will be issued on the TRON Network and can be traded on various NFT platforms. Users need to link their TRON addresses on the event page to receive the minted NFTs. It is advised to mint the NFTs promptly as there will be a daily cap on NFT minting, and qualification does not carry over to subsequent rounds.The lucky user selected as the monthly reward winner and shortlisted as a candidate space passenger will have their space flight broadcasted worldwide via a live-stream. Huobi will conduct thorough verifications, including checking the winner’s TRON address, UID, and KYC verification, to ensure the authenticity of the winner. The winning space NFTs are non-transferable, and any attempt to transfer them will result in the forfeiture of the reward.Spot trading fee exemptionIn addition to the opportunity of becoming potential space passengers, the lucky users shortlisted during the first round of the Huobi Mars Program will enjoy the privilege of a 180-day exemption from spot trading fees on Huobi.Huobi isn’t the only crypto market participant with an interest in the intergalactic. It emerged last week that Charles Hoskinson, Founder of layer one blockchain Cardano, is funding The Galileo Project, an expedition to recover an interstellar object from the floor of the Pacific Ocean.Crypto memes boast of the likelihood of digital asset prices “going to the moon,” but Huobi’s Mars Program aligns with the pursuit of exploring the unknown and appears to amount to a noble intergalactic endeavor.